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To the defence of Snap, I have the same issues on my Firefox installed with PPA (Firefox updates at random time, then kindly asks to reboot by replacing each w

To the defence of Snap, I have the same issues on my Firefox installed with PPA (Firefox updates at random time, then kindly asks to reboot by replacing each webpage by a grey one with a restart button, and it doesn't restart tabs in private windows) It's a very Firefox problem, not snap (I use PPA and not Snap because snap outright doesn't work when your home isn't /home/uname , and mine is /home/company_domain/uname ) (I can't believe that ubuntu forces you to use a software that isn't production ready)

capableweb 4y ago
I'm mostly using Firefox on Arch and it doesn't suffer from this problem. It updates when I want it to update, meaning when I do my daily update with my distros package manager.
- prmoustache 4y ago
  Same with most distros. It really is a ubuntu problem.
asddubs 4y ago
i've had the same thing happen in both chromium and firefox. what i hate most about snap though is the constant popups telling me the close the application. but closing the application doesn't actually trigger it updating, it basically wants you to close the application and then wait several hours until their cron job to update or whatever runs again. so I just get these constant pop ups
Izkata 4y ago
From what I've heard (haven't done this myself yet) if you install Firefox manually instead of through a package manager, it has an internal update mechanism that doesn't trigger the "please restart" page. That page is for when a package manager swaps files out from under it, while the internal mechanism waits for you to restart.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- rascul 4y ago
  > From what I've heard (haven't done this myself yet) if you install Firefox manually instead of through a package manager, it has an internal update mechanism that doesn't trigger the "please restart" page. I install Firefox in such a manner and can confirm the behavior is what you have heard. I've never seen the "please restart" page.
- greatgib 4y ago
  I hate Snap, but from what I experienced, I also don't think that the problem is related to it but some shitty logic in Firefox. Regarding the "excuse" that it is the package manager that updated the Firefox in background, I saw it repeated a lot of time to deflect the blame, but it is totally not true in my opinion. On my system, I don't allow automatic updates. I have the notification when updates are available, but the system/packages are never updated without me doing it. And still, I noticed multiple times that Firefox breaks suddenly, like that, when nothing was updated on my system for some weeks and everything was working fine.
  - Izkata 4y ago
    Ubuntu has an additional system called unattended-upgrades that does security updates in the background without any user interaction. At least in Ubuntu 18.04, pre-snap Firefox is included in it.
    - greatgib 4y ago
      It is clearly not. On these occasions I have also checked the logs (apt,...) to be sure that nothing was updated in a very long time.
      - Izkata 4y ago
        It wouldn't be in apt's log, it would be in the unattended-upgrades log. And I can say that when I removed Firefox from its config, it stopped happening to me.
johannes1234321 4y ago
> (Firefox updates at random time, then kindly asks to reboot by replacing each webpage by a grey one with a restart button, and it doesn't restart tabs in private windows) I understand why they push so storngly to frequent updates and consider that idea mostly as good. However that implementation always makes me furious. I am in some workflow, doing some form of transactional thing and suddenly it decides to stop working without restart, where then half my work is gone. If they'd say "hey, new update ready update in next few hours" I'd be fine and could schedule it (well I would still not like it as I hoard too many open tabs thus restart takes time ... but could tolerate)
eikenberry 4y ago
If you're using a PPA then it shouldn't update on it's own and give you the restart screen. It should only update when you run an update with your package manager. How did you set it up so that it has this problem?
ilyt 4y ago
Works fine under Debian although you have to load package from "unstable" (not really unstable 99.99% of the time) branch to get newest one
throwaway0x7E6 4y ago
>(Firefox updates at random time, then kindly asks to reboot by replacing each webpage by a grey one with a restart button, and it doesn't restart tabs in private windows) that happened to me several years ago despite automatic updates being explicitly turned off - I actually have a screenshot of the settings page next to that gray one
remram 4y ago
That's just false. It doesn't update, you have to run APT to do it. Now if you run 'apt upgrade' and hit 'yes' without looking, you might be updating Firefox while it's running. Or maybe you use unattended-upgrades. Either way, not a Firefox issue.
jeroenhd 4y ago
Firefox doesn't update itself. Your automatic background updates update Firefox. Consider going to your settings and changing your update preferences. Firefox only shows the "please restart" page when it's already been updated, in your case (from a PPA) by something else like your OS upgrade service. It'll also keep your existing tabs working as best it can, only new tabs will show the restart page. You should restart anyway because the underlying libraries have been swapped out from under Firefox while it's running that makes Firefox VERY crash prone for very obvious reasons.
benibela 4y ago
I have the problem in combination with both I have uninstalled Snap Firefox and installed PPA Firefox Suddenly it updates, and when I restart, the PPA Firefox is gone! It is back to the Snap Firefox Also the Snap Firefox does not start, because I use a user that is not in the snap group. So after each update, I have to uninstall it and reinstall the PPA one How do I disable the snap updates permanently?

capableweb 4y ago

I'm mostly using Firefox on Arch and it doesn't suffer from this problem. It updates when I want it to update, meaning when I do my daily update with my distros package manager.

prmoustache 4y ago
Same with most distros. It really is a ubuntu problem.

asddubs 4y ago

i've had the same thing happen in both chromium and firefox. what i hate most about snap though is the constant popups telling me the close the application. but closing the application doesn't actually trigger it updating, it basically wants you to close the application and then wait several hours until their cron job to update or whatever runs again. so I just get these constant pop ups

Izkata 4y ago

From what I've heard (haven't done this myself yet) if you install Firefox manually instead of through a package manager, it has an internal update mechanism that doesn't trigger the "please restart" page. That page is for when a package manager swaps files out from under it, while the internal mechanism waits for you to restart.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
rascul 4y ago
> From what I've heard (haven't done this myself yet) if you install Firefox manually instead of through a package manager, it has an internal update mechanism that doesn't trigger the "please restart" page. I install Firefox in such a manner and can confirm the behavior is what you have heard. I've never seen the "please restart" page.
greatgib 4y ago
I hate Snap, but from what I experienced, I also don't think that the problem is related to it but some shitty logic in Firefox. Regarding the "excuse" that it is the package manager that updated the Firefox in background, I saw it repeated a lot of time to deflect the blame, but it is totally not true in my opinion. On my system, I don't allow automatic updates. I have the notification when updates are available, but the system/packages are never updated without me doing it. And still, I noticed multiple times that Firefox breaks suddenly, like that, when nothing was updated on my system for some weeks and everything was working fine.
- Izkata 4y ago
  Ubuntu has an additional system called unattended-upgrades that does security updates in the background without any user interaction. At least in Ubuntu 18.04, pre-snap Firefox is included in it.
  - greatgib 4y ago
    It is clearly not. On these occasions I have also checked the logs (apt,...) to be sure that nothing was updated in a very long time.
    - Izkata 4y ago
      It wouldn't be in apt's log, it would be in the unattended-upgrades log. And I can say that when I removed Firefox from its config, it stopped happening to me.

johannes1234321 4y ago

> (Firefox updates at random time, then kindly asks to reboot by replacing each webpage by a grey one with a restart button, and it doesn't restart tabs in private windows) I understand why they push so storngly to frequent updates and consider that idea mostly as good. However that implementation always makes me furious. I am in some workflow, doing some form of transactional thing and suddenly it decides to stop working without restart, where then half my work is gone. If they'd say "hey, new update ready update in next few hours" I'd be fine and could schedule it (well I would still not like it as I hoard too many open tabs thus restart takes time ... but could tolerate)

eikenberry 4y ago

If you're using a PPA then it shouldn't update on it's own and give you the restart screen. It should only update when you run an update with your package manager. How did you set it up so that it has this problem?

ilyt 4y ago

Works fine under Debian although you have to load package from "unstable" (not really unstable 99.99% of the time) branch to get newest one

throwaway0x7E6 4y ago

>(Firefox updates at random time, then kindly asks to reboot by replacing each webpage by a grey one with a restart button, and it doesn't restart tabs in private windows) that happened to me several years ago despite automatic updates being explicitly turned off - I actually have a screenshot of the settings page next to that gray one

remram 4y ago

That's just false. It doesn't update, you have to run APT to do it. Now if you run 'apt upgrade' and hit 'yes' without looking, you might be updating Firefox while it's running. Or maybe you use unattended-upgrades. Either way, not a Firefox issue.

jeroenhd 4y ago

Firefox doesn't update itself. Your automatic background updates update Firefox. Consider going to your settings and changing your update preferences. Firefox only shows the "please restart" page when it's already been updated, in your case (from a PPA) by something else like your OS upgrade service. It'll also keep your existing tabs working as best it can, only new tabs will show the restart page. You should restart anyway because the underlying libraries have been swapped out from under Firefox while it's running that makes Firefox VERY crash prone for very obvious reasons.

benibela 4y ago

I have the problem in combination with both I have uninstalled Snap Firefox and installed PPA Firefox Suddenly it updates, and when I restart, the PPA Firefox is gone! It is back to the Snap Firefox Also the Snap Firefox does not start, because I use a user that is not in the snap group. So after each update, I have to uninstall it and reinstall the PPA one How do I disable the snap updates permanently?